Posts tagged synthesis

In most MMOs, you want your efforts with crafting to produce more items by the time you're done, not fewer. But the upcoming Desynthesis system in Final Fantasy XIV is meant to destroy items rather than make new ones, although you can end up making new ones after you break them down. It's a chance ...

Developments in CGI and animatronics might be getting alarmingly realistic, but the audio that goes with it often still relies on manual recordings. A pair of associate professors and a graduate student from Cornell University, however, have developed a method for synthesizing the sound of moving ...

If you liked absolutely nothing else about the launch of Final Fantasy XIV, you have to admit that the development team really went the distance to try and make crafting relevant and unique. Even though a lot of games add some depth to crafting beyond waiting for a bar to fill, most of those game...

Final Fantasy XIV's crafting system is rich with detail, requiring a fair bit of knowledge from players in order to successfully craft items. Not everything is explained in the game from the start, however, giving players the chance to experiment and learn what works best for themselves. There was ...

Crafting is optional in Final Fantasy XIV, but that word doesn't mean what it usually means in games. You don't have to take any local levequests or take part in crafting to level up, but you'll find yourself far more constrained and advancing your physical level far more slowly if you ignore the c...

Dave Smith's name is as revered in the synth business as those of Tom Oberheim and "Handsome Ron" Casio. Having had his hands in everything from the Prophet 5 synth to developing the MIDI specification to his own company (Dave Smith Instruments), the man has given electronic musicians plenty to be ...

We've been seeing a great deal of news and information coming out from Final Fantasy XI -- which probably means the end times are coming, but be that as it may. Just the other day we found out about the upcoming Evolith system, with its cryptic mentions of the integrated "synergy" system and a promi...

Most games give crafters the shaft. There's no real art to pushing a button and having an item pop out, especially when today's modern MMO design heavily favors "quick crafting." Crafting is an afterthought to most games, or something that players can do to both pass the time and perhaps offer an ...

According to this article from the India Times, there is a direct correlation between the kinds of skill needed for leaders to excel in an MMO, and the skills required for success in the real world. Namely, these skills break down to "Collaboration is key", "Vision is important", and "Information ga...

Raph Koster certainly thinks so. He feels that single-player gaming is a phase we all went through, and that online, interconnected gaming is simply the next evolutionary step -- or, possibly, a return to form. 'People always play games together. All of you learned to play games with each other,' he...